cbc.ca audience input 2004

8/14/2019 CBC.ca Audience Input 2004

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CBC.ca Message Boards

Presenting:

Claude Galipeau, Sue Gardner, Brenda Szymborski, JohnMcQuaker

Attending:

Harold Redekopp, Esther Enkin, Fred Mattocks, Krista Harris

A new direction for publishingaudience input on CBC.ca.

DRAFT PROPOSAL

7A200, April 21, 4 pmDial-in (416) 204-6285 or 1-866-218-3342, code9080508#


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Message Boards: what they are

Same as forums or discussionboards

An online destination where people canread messages from others and addtheir responses, over a period of weeks,

months or years. Once posted,messages are available until removed bysite owners.


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Message Boards: current state (C

Since April 3, CBC.cas message boards have beenbroken and unavailable to the audience.

Before April 3, we offered hundreds of boards

including thousands of messages: users postedanonymously on a wide range of topics.

Every message goes up immediately unless ourautomatic filters flag it as potentially offensive -in which case it is held for review by a CBC staff

person.

Message boards represent 1% of CBC.ca traffic.

We have been reviewing the service for a while policy issues, technical issues, and our overallapproach.


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Message Boards: current state(CBC)


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Absolute

Freedom

Absolute

Control

Post-

moderation

Pre-

moderation

Letters

model

No

moderation

No published

audience input

The companyreviewsaudience inputfor hate,language, etc.,after it ispublished

e.g.,BBCCBCNew YorkTimesNPRSlateCTV(programs)

The companyreviews allaudience inputBEFOREpublishing it

e.g.,National Post

Canwest Global

The companymay collectinput, butdoes notpublish it

e.g.,CNN

WGBHCTV (news)

The companypublishes anyand allaudienceinput

No mediacompanies do

this.

The companypublishes onlyselected input

e.g.,Toronto StarNational PostRadio-Canada

TSNFOX

Audience Interaction: industrypractices


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Strategic Issues

Message boards are not core toCBC.ca strategy they are an

extra.

To do them responsibly, we wouldhave to cut something else.

Current CBC practice: keyissues


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Legal/Journalistic Issues I

Quality of discourse is low. CBC does notprogram or produce the content: theaudience is the programmer/producer

Risk of libel, hate mongering, etc.Accusations of CBC censorship and bias(abortion, Middle East)

Can be flooded by organized opinion (AllianceParty on Check-Up boards)

Zero editorial impact because no one in anyofficial capacity reads them unless they blow

up



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No delay, except if caught infilter. Little editorial

judgment.

Can use delay, withjudgment about what goesto air

Delay to air?

No.Yes e.g., callers phonedback before going on-air.Names and numbers takenby the show.

Participantaccountable?

Live, 24/7, dates back weeks,months, years.Permanent

record.

Program lasts a few hours.No publicly accessible

record

Permanence?

Sometimes.Yes: discussion framed byjournalists, guests, experts.

Tie toeditorialcontent?

Junior staffer maintains 100discussions at once: steps inonce in a while

Yes: discussioncontrolled/shaped by CBC

journalists

CBCaccountable?

No screening of participantsidentity or view. Possible toflood the boards.

Participants screened tofacilitate intelligentdiscourse reflecting a rangeof views

Screening?

CBC onlinemessage board (current)

CBC Radio/TVphone-in show (current)

Current CBC practice: keyissuesLegal/Journalistic Issues II


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Audience Relations IssuesWe want to foster an intelligent dialogue for the audience, butthe quality of conversation is low.

Repeated complaints about the moderator - censorship, bias,unfairness: I am fed up with your webmaster. Perhaps the

most serious threat to our way of life is terrorism. Why do youinsist on deleting our attempts to discuss it?

Repeated complaints about other users: [Another user] refersto Todd Bertuzzi as White Canadian Trash. I am appalled thishas not been removed. That statement and others that person

made are deeply offensive.

Postings that break the house rules are not found,evaluated, and acted upon fast enough. We look bad.

Many in the audience have voiced their dislike of the

automatic filter.



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Issue Management Issues

Criticism of CBCs message boards made thefront page of the National Post. We arecriticized for not allowing controversialdiscussions, and for efforts to protect againsthate speech.

Generally, the message boards give ourenemies enough rope to hang us with. Highquantity, low level of CBC control = lots of

room for embarrassment.

Message board industry is still fairly new andissues of censorship, bias, etc. not yet resolved- its not possible yet to have a right answer

that is broadly seen as acceptable.



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Financial Issues

Cost of software itself, plus customization

One salary for CBC.cas full-time moderator

Normal and emergency technical maintenance

Time of others to handle emergencies (withinCBC.ca, Communications, Audience Relations,senior management)


M B d t t t


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Message Boards: current state(CBC)

To foster dialogue among Canadians(virtual public commons)

Quality of discourse is low.

To deepen relationships between CBCand

its audience

Many ignore message boards; others are

dissatisfied.To allow the audience to influenceprogramming

So much chatter, editorial staff dont useor even read the boards.


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Options going forward:A. No message boards/audience input on the

site at all.

B. Full, open message boards, done

responsibly.

C. A new model we call Modified Letters.

D. The Modified Letters model, plus

managing of outsourced message boardsupon request.

* Note: Regardless of the model we adopt for publishingaudience input online, we would continue to solicit input via e-

mails to programs, Audience Relations, etc. Also, we would-

Message Boards: Options


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Message Boards: Option A

A. No message boards/audience input on thesite at all.

We do not recommend this model.

This model gives CBC, the publicbroadcaster, no ability to work towardsfostering a dialogue among Canadians,deepening relationships between CBC and

its audience, or allowing the audience toinfluence programming.


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Message Boards: Option B

B. Full, open message boards, doneresponsibly.

We do not recommend this model.

Costs, in our view, are prohibitive. Wouldinclude new software, project costs toimplement, and new, ongoing cost of 24/7journalistic moderation team (~ 5 FTEs,

including senior producer), and Opssupport. Would require cuts to coreservice elsewhere within CBC.ca.

Risk would decrease somewhat, but not

substantially.

Message Boards Options C


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Message Boards: Options Cand D

C. A new model we call Modified Letters.

D. The Modified Letters model, plusmanaging of outsourced message boardsupon request.

We recommend moving forward withOption C, remaining open to Option D

upon request from those who want it.


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All input is tiedto content

here, a newsstory

Public inputin responseto thecontent

Click on titleto read fullcomment

Story page

Message Boards: ModifiedLetters


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Letter page

Read thefull

comment

Allcommentsstill availablebelow

Go tonext/previouscomment



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Strategy - Fits within CBC.ca strategy.

Law/Journalism - Because discussions are tied to astory, the quality of discourse would improve the bad wont drive out the good.

Pre-moderation reduces the risks of libel, hateand flooding to practically zero: the default isletters arent published unless theyre relevantand compelling.

Letters are managed by journalistic staff astheir time permits, improving quality,safeguarding the company and allowing foraudience impact on programming.

Model is flexible: if journalists are short-staffed,



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Recommended Next Steps

Agreement this is the right path. Specifically:

CBC.ca does not fix the broken messageboards. Works with Communications andAudience Relations to prepare messaging for

audience.CBC.ca explores technical solutions to movetowards Modified Letters implementation.

CBC.ca begins exploration of various

outsourcing models for message boards, to bein place before Olympics commitments need tobe met.

CBC.ca prepare communications plan for Radio,

TV and other stakeholders

cbc.ca audience input 2004

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